A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,1

wandering around. She’s missing, okay? Missing.”

“Forgive my sister,” Tristan interjected when Zoltan scowled at Esme in response. “She’s on edge, much like the rest of us. This is truly a serious and worrying situation. We have strict protocols on our team, and Nethissis would never break them unless… unless something happened to her.”

Petra offered a sympathetic smile. “I’m truly sorry,” she said. “Whatever we can do to help, please, don’t hesitate to ask.” She briefly looked at Zoltan. “The chief councilor has good intentions. It’s his tongue that gets ahead of him sometimes.”

“I’ll have the golden guards scour the palace and the gardens,” Corbin replied.

His gold-plated armor shimmered in the soft amber light of the overhead chandeliers, and I could make out the mythical beasts immortalized on the torso of his uniform—a lion-like creature wrestling a dragon of sorts, their bodies furiously tangled, their eyes made of precious gemstones and their fangs encrusted with mother-of-pearl.

“Thank you, but we have a better and faster solution,” I said, drawing a glare from Zoltan. “A tracking spell.”

“And you couldn’t do that for yourselves?” he shot back.

“Councilor!” Petra exclaimed, downright annoyed.

“We only remarked upon her absence less than twenty minutes ago,” I said, my blood simmering. His attitude irked me. “We felt it was necessary that the Lord and Lady Supreme should be notified, as well.”

Amal placed a copper bowl on the marble floor, kneeling as she filled it with herbs and powders from Nethissis’s backpack. She added one of the swamp witch’s bracelets on top before setting it on fire.

Silence settled over the great room as the green flame swallowed the contents of the bowl and gradually morphed into a bright emerald spark that elevated itself. Amal looked at us. “Get ready to run,” she said.

The spark crackled and flashed furiously, then bolted away from us and through the double doors. I gave Acheron and Danika a brief nod. “If you’ll excuse us,” I breathed and ran after the spell.

Sofia, Amal, Esme, and Tristan joined us as we ran past the guards and through the double doors. Kalon and Valaine were on their way in but quickly turned around and followed us, instead—likely curious as to what it was that we were up to. Nethissis’s disappearance had affected everyone, not just our group. We followed the green spark as it flew above and ahead. It made sharp and unexpected turns, left and right, through the wide hallways, but it maintained a steady speed.

Light on my feet, while my heart thundered anxiously, I led the group as we made it outside through the garden doors.

“What the hell are we doing?” Kalon asked from behind.

“Finding Nethissis!” Esme replied.

Kalon said something else, but I didn’t register his words clearly, my attention focused on the green spark. It dashed across the hedge maze and sprawling flower and orchard patches and stopped inside a blossoming bush. A thin line of smoke was left in its wake, and my chest tightened. It didn’t feel right.

If Nethissis was there, why couldn’t we see her?

“Over there!” I said, pointing ahead.

We moved fast, like shadows across the garden. Sofia, Esme, and Tristan quickly pulled up their hoods, before the sun could hurt them, even through the dim reddish haze. Every time I stepped outside, unbothered by the light, I was reminded of how fortunate I was, but also of why it was so important for me to get the day-walking cure from Visio.

All that was set aside, though, as we finally reached the bush.

“Where the hell is she?” Amal muttered, then dropped to her hands and knees to get a better look. She froze, her orange eyes wide with shock, her lips slowly parting… and I knew she’d found Nethissis. My heart was already breaking as she screamed with grief and horror. “Nethi! No!”

She scrambled backward, tremors taking over. Shaking, Amal cried uncontrollably, shattered by what she’d just seen.

“Oh, no…” Esme managed, carefully pushing one of the bush’s flowery branches to the side. She revealed Nethissis’s bare body, parts of it still hidden by grass and pale pink blossoms and diamond-shaped leaves.

The air left my lungs as I groaned softly.

Sofia covered her mouth with both hands, pain flickering in her wide eyes. “Nethi…”

“How… Why? What the hell happened?!” Tristan growled. He kneeled next to Nethissis and checked her pulse, shaking his head slowly. “Dammit… Dammit…”

“She’s gone,” Esme whispered, tears already streaming down her cheeks.

Thousands of eerie thoughts darted through my head at that moment. I carefully took in every detail that Nethissis’s